NASA: SpaceX and Boeing to Carry Astronauts in Space

On Sept. 16, 2014 NASA gave officially the opportunity to SpaceX and Boeing to start transporting astronauts to space by 2017/2018.

NASA signed a contract with SpaceX and Boeing, giving both private companies the opportunity to deliver astronauts to space. SpaceX will use the Dragon V2 spacecraft that was presented in May, 2014 and Boeing will use their CST-100 spacecraft.

Both companies received a total of $6.8 billion – $4.2 billion for Boeing and $2.6 billion for SpaceX, based on the companies’ proposals to NASA.

This contract is essential for NASA since they stopped using the Space Shuttle in 2011 and now they rely on Russia to deliver their astronauts to space, paying $71 million per seat.

This contract is also a significant step forward to making humans space flight affordable for ordinary people. SpaceX has a research program called Falcon 9R that will use re-usable rockets potentially decreasing the cost of space flights 100-fold. Dragon V2 is a 21st century modern spacecraft that will land back on Earth propulsively!

The launches will occur from Cape Canaveral.

I can’t be more happy to see this contract being signed!

by Tihomir Dimitrov
The Human Adventures in Space Exploration – 09.2014
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